Intentions to Marry, 1895 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840408, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 316

District of Quinam Quarter ending 30 September 1895

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
24	3 July 1895	John Thomas Ellis Margaret Cecilia Larkin	John Thomas Ellis Margaret Cecilia Larkin 💍 1895/1333	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter	20 years 19 years	Quinam Quinam	15 years 17 years	Registrar's office	95/2670	Lydia Ellis, Mother. Father dead. James Larkin, Father.	3 July 1895	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quinam
25	15 July 1895	Harry Shelker Mary Ann Puttick	Harry Shelker Mary Ann Puttick 💍 1895/1334	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 years 26 years	Quinam Kingsdown	15 years 12 years	Registrar's office	95/2671		15 July 1895	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quinam
26	22 July 1895	William Martin Emma Bebbington	William Martin Emma Bebbington 💍 1895/1610	Bachelor Spinster	Horsebreaker	32 years 21 years	Quinam Quinam	3 years 6 months	Presbyterian Church, Quinam	95/2960		22 July 1895	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
27	23 July 1895	John Hill Lillian Ernestine Coe	John Hill Lillian Ernestine Coe 💍 1895/1609	Bachelor Spinster	Dancer	21 years 27 years	Quinam Quinam	3 days 6 months	Presbyterian Church, Quinam	95/2959		23 July 1895	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
28	29 July 1895	Martyn Henry Todd Margaret Nicholson	Martyn Henry Todd Margaret Nicholson 💍 1895/1338	Bachelor Widow	Porter Cook	31 years 28 years	Quinam Quinam	3 years 28 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Quinam	95/2675		29 July 1895	Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
29	1 August 1895	Hiram Edwin Rawstorn Elizabeth Rock	Hiram Edwin Rawstorn Elizabeth Rack 💍 1895/1335	Bachelor Spinster	Machine Smith	21 years 21 years	Quinam Quinam	21 years 16 years	Registrar's Office	95/2672		1 August 1895	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quinam
30	5 August 1895	Frederick William Glasson Christina Morrison		Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic Servant	30 years 24 years	Quinam Quinam	30 years 4 years	Residence of Mr. Robert Stuart Reid, Quinam	95/2961		5 August 1895	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Clergyman
31	22 August 1895	Francis Charles Cowles Margaret Haston Miller	Francis Charles Cowles Margaret Hastan Miller 💍 1895/1336	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Merchant	21 years 21 years	Quinam Quinam	3 months 4 days	Registrar's Office	95/2673		22 August 1895	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quinam
32	30 August 1895	Thomas Werry Emma Louisa Turner	Thomas Werry Emma Louisa Turner 💍 1895/1339	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	29 years 32 years	Quinam Quinam	3 days 6 months	Residence of Mr. Henry John Turner, Quinam	95/2676		30 August 1895	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
33	11 September 1895	Richard Frank Batchelor Hannah Lowney	Richard Frank Batchelor Hannah Louney 💍 1895/1337	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic Servant	29 years 26 years	Quinam Levels	1 year 20 years	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Quinam	95/2674		11 September 1895	Rev. Louis Marlier, Roman Catholic Priest

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).